Any agenda?

Having agendas' are now becoming great past times for some sports in Malaysia. And the agendas don't seem to have any bearing for the future of the sport concerned. Just, for the sake of change...lets change and blame the person or persons concerned.

Well. for now, I may have to live with the agendas but one day I hope to write about it. The agendas in sports, now a great past time that seem to be destroying sports.I have been in sports writing since in 1980 s and I am not an expert and many youngsters claim but I am happy that that there have the confidence to to move ahead and learn  from the right sources. 

Learn from the the experts and sincere people. Not from stylish people who only know how to dress up, and manipulate and talk. That's my advise and you can't go wrong. Most of all you won't have an agenda to fill some one stomach.

Soon, Malaysia will kick start the Asian Cup Qualifiers campaign, playing with Qatar and the great ones.  Anybody planning any agenda against anybody?  Ready to blame some one or some people? Why not spend some time looking back and at the previous scores. Obviously we can go on falling back but there also should be no reason not to fight hard and reach and new level of play.

Lately, I keep hearing of "bosses" wanted this story and so on and so on. I also have been a Sports Editor and like many other friends we don't write or publish nonsense. So, let's be far sighted, have no agendas, write what is right and be sincerely.

Be it weight lifting, badminton, hockey or soccer the story looks like the same. I remember, about early 80 s, one one the big bosses scolded and rookie writer for having agendas when he was reporting and the the man said, you should be writing about "laga lembu" (no offence meant) and not football. Have things changed?

If you are not willing to sincere and passionate, then I suggest that stay at home and do the "laga ". We can be wrong but be sincere, don't carry agendas.

The 2007 AFC Asian Cup champions Iraq are scheduled to play friendly match against Malaysia in Dubai six days before they take on Indonesia on 6 February 2013 in the AFC Asian Cup 2015 qualifiers.

Iraq, who appointed new head coach Hakeem Shakir last month after they parted company with Brazilian Zico, are currently playing in the Gulf Cup 2013 in Bahrain.

The West Asians are favourites to progress from Group C which features two-time AFC Asian Cup champions Saudi Arabia, China and Indonesia.

Malaysia are also planning numbers of international matches for the preparations of the AFC Asian Cup 2015 qualifiers. Three West Asian nations Qatar, Bahrain and Yemen are the other sides of Group D. The Malaysians will travel to Doha to face Qatar on 6 February 2013.

Continental powerhouses Japan, Australia and Korea Republic, who finished as the top three teams in the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2011™, 2012 AFC Challenge Cup champions DPR Korea and the winners of the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup will earn automatic qualification for the event in Australia.

Besides, a total of 20 teams have been divided into five groups of four teams each. The top two teams from each group and the best third-placed team among all the groups will qualify for the tournament proper in Australia in 2015.

(......more to come)

Messi triumph at FIFA d'Or 2012

Argentina’s Lionel Messi collected a record-breaking fourth consecutive title of best player in the world when he was awarded the FIFA Ballon d’Or, while US player Abby Wambach claimed her first FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year award at the FIFA Ballon d’Or gala held at the Zurich Kongresshaus this evening.

Vicente del Bosque, the Spanish national team coach, and Sweden’s new women’s national team coach Pia Sundhage (former USA coach) were the winners of the FIFA World Coach of the Year awards for men’s and women’s football, respectively.

Aged 25, Messi concluded 2012 by scoring over 90 goals. He also finished top scorer in the UEFA Champions League 2011-2012 season with 14 goals. Meanwhile, Vicente del Bosque added the European title to his 2010 FIFA World Cup crown when leading Spain to victory at EURO 2012.

In women’s football, 2012 was the US national team’s year. Sundhage and Wambach led the US to its second Olympic gold medal in London after defeating the Japanese team in the final and thus exacting revenge for the FIFA Women’s World Cup final the previous year, which Japan won for the first time in their history. 

These awards were decided after a poll in which the captains and head coaches of the men’s (for the two men’s awards) and women’s (for the two women’s awards) national teams, as well as international media representatives selected by French football magazine France Football, voted for candidates in each of the four categories. Each group’s votes represented one third of the final result.

  

It was an unforgettable night, with many former and current football stars on stage and on the red carpet. The international audience was entertained with a flavour of Brazil as we look to the FIFA Confederations Cup 2013, as well as by Scottish singer Amy MacDonald.

  

The FIFA Ballon d’Or was awarded for the third time tonight following the amalgamation of the FIFA World Player of the Year award with the France Football Ballon d’Or in 2010.

  

Lionel Messi won the FIFA Ballon d’Or after polling 41.60% of the votes, ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo on 23.68% and Andrés Iniesta on 10.91%.

  

Wambach, winner of the FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year award, led the USA team to the title at the London 2012 Olympics, where she also won the adidas Golden Ball as the best player of the competition and the adidas Golden Boot for her five goals. She collected 20.67% of the votes, ahead of Brazil’s Marta and Alex Morgan from the USA, who received 13.50% and 10.87% respectively.

  

Vicente del Bosque secured the FIFA World Coach of the Year for Men’s Football award with 34.51% of the votes, ahead of José Mourinho, the Portuguese coach of Real Madrid, with 20.49%, and former FC Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola, who received 12.91%.

  

Meanwhile, Pia Sundhage led the FIFA World Coach of the Year for Women’s Football category with 28.59% of the votes, ahead of Norio Sasaki (23.83%), coach of the Japanese national team that collected silver at the Olympics in London, and France team coach Bruno Bini (9.02%).

FIFPro, the world players’ union, invited 50,000 professional players from all over the world to select their best team of 2012, the FIFA FIFPro World XI. The honours went to the following all-star squad: Iker Casillas (Spain) in goal; Dani Alves (Brazil), Marcelo (Brazil), Gerard Piqué (Spain) and Sergio Ramos (Spain) in defence; Xabi Alonso (Spain), Andrés Iniesta (Spain) and Xavi Hernández (Spain) in midfield; and Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Radamel Falcao (Colombia) and Lionel Messi (Argentina) up front.

  

The FIFA Puskás Award for the “most beautiful goal” of the year as voted for on FIFA.com, FIFA on YouTube and francefootball.fr by more than five million fans was also presented. This prize, created in 2009 in honour and in memory of Ferenc Puskás, the captain and star of the Hungarian national team during the 1950s, went to Slovakian striker Miroslav Stoch, who superbly hooked a shot into the top corner of the net on 3 March 2012 for his club Fenerbahçe in a Turkish Süper Lig match against Gençlerbirliği.

Franz Beckenbauer received the FIFA Presidential Award from President Joseph S. Blatter in recognition of his extraordinary achievements and record of service to the world’s favourite game. Beckenbauer excelled as a supremely elegant, world-class player, as a charismatic coach and manager on the touchline, and as the figurehead and chief organiser of a major sports event. And each and every time, the focus was the FIFA World Cup™.

The FIFA Fair Play Award was given to the Uzbekistan Football Federation (UFF) for showing that fair play and competition are not mutually exclusive but complement each another. The UFF finished as winners of the 2012 AFC Fair Play Association of the Year award. The Uzbeks amassed 498.84 points over the year, 16.37 points more than runners-up Iran, as they emerged the victors.